


Mettaton and Papyrus (ft. Overprotective Sans)

by TheTriggeredHappy



Series: My Undertale Human AU [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, And Papyrus is a cinnamon roll, M/M, Mettaton is a flirt, Protective Sans, What else is new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 17:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5257973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTriggeredHappy/pseuds/TheTriggeredHappy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mettaton takes Papyrus out on a nice date, and Sans decides it's his responsibility to make sure there's no funny business. Of any kind. Ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mettaton and Papyrus (ft. Overprotective Sans)

**Author's Note:**

> [I've officially fallen into Papyton hell, hope you enjoy.  
> My human headcanons for both Sans and Papyrus follows the art done by the user toddnet on tumblr, go check it out!]

The date was going well, and Sans was definitely not happy about it.

When Papyrus had told him he had a date, he was glad to hear it. Overjoyed, really. About time someone else realized just how amazing his brother was, he figured. His brother really needed to get out more anyways, his friend circle was starting to suffer under the duress of not leaving the house all that much.

But when he saw the person standing outside the door, he considered making his brother an account for an online dating site because this was not okay with him.

He wished he could describe Mettaton as a greasy, cheeky, makeup-plastered piece of trash, but in reality the taller man never looked like he wasn’t halfway down the runway, and his smile seemed pretty real to the untrained eye, and what makeup he did wear was flawless somehow. But somewhere in the smile he mustered as he looked at Sans, in the way he didn’t really smile with his teeth, in how every hair on his stupid head looked like it had been placed there by a team of experts, somewhere there he sensed fakeness. He was just too close to the line between being nice because you were polite and being nice because you thought you had to.

“I’m here to pick up your brother, is he ready yet?” asked the dark-haired man, head tilting down ever so slightly as he looked at Sans (why did everyone have to be so damn tall, what the hell?).

“Yeah. I think so,” he had replied, and his brother had come bouncing down the stairs before he could even call, his usually unruly curls brushed into place, his tattered scarf and gloves replaced by a neat, clean button-up and a red hat. While he looked good in it and all, it was unlike Papyrus to dress up for dates—if anything, he had a habit of accidentally dressing too casually for the event he was going to, and would have to dart back into his room to throw on something new.

But before he could catch Mettaton for a pre-date word on how he expected his brother to be treated, they were out the door, Papyrus already chattering on about something as they climbed into the car cheerfully, speeding off before he had a chance to blink.

He supposed he should feel bad for spying on them, but Papyrus’s other track record with dates was that sometimes they took advantage of his brother’s kind and giving nature. When he got back, Papyrus would admit that he had paid for most of it, even things that probably should’ve been left on the other person. And yet here Mettaton was, positively showering Papyrus with gifts and food as they walked through the mall, window shopping along the way, one occasionally pulling the other into a store as they passed by something nice.

Probably paying for everything to make up for his lack of good qualities, thought Sans to himself.

While they walked, Sans picked up on bits of conversation between them. At one point he heard a brief patch of song, some theme song from a movie that Papyrus liked, followed by Papyrus exclaiming that it was amazing how well Mettaton could sing. It was like hearing an angel, he said, a goofy smile cutting across his face, white teeth against brown skin.

Or like a siren, Sans decided with a scowl as Mettaton wrapped an arm around Papyrus’s waist, a sly grin crossing his face.

He set up camp about two tables down from them in the food court, his hood hiding his face (although he got some nasty looks from a mall security guard), grabbing a drink and some nachos to make himself seem less like a loiterer and more like a normal person waiting for their friend or something.

Mettaton (who was clearly training for a gold Olympic medal in shameless flirting) had once again paid for the food and was now listening, chin in his hands, smiling silently as Papyrus recounted some story about him and Undyne. Sans took note of how Mettaton (not even subtle, why) had his feet pressed closely to Papyrus’s, soles of their shoes tapping together. Sans glared back down at his phone as a lady gave him a weird look from a table over. He tilted his head slightly to try and hear what they were talking about.

“…so when she started mentioning that Alphys would be tagging along, I realized, Alphys and Undyne were dating, which I personally thought would happen a lot faster, but… nevertheless, when I asked her, she nearly dropped the plate of pasta!” he recounted, his face coated in that genuine smile of his. The other man chuckled.

“It certainly took them long enough,” he said, flicking a stray piece of hair from his vision. “You know, speaking of Alphys, she mentioned this movie that comes out later this month. I think we should go and see it when it comes out, hmm, darling?” Mettaton moved his hand to lace their fingers together casually. Sans dug his fingernails into the tabletop.

Papyrus smiled and gave an enthusiastic nod, a blush forming on his cheeks. “I would love to go out again!” he said cheerfully. “It’s wonderful spending time with you like this, and a movie sounds like fun!”

Papyrus’s genuine and open statement seemed to surprise Mettaton, and he glanced at his hands for a moment as he thought this statement over. Sans glowered as he nicked a piece of pretzel off Papyrus’s (almost overflowing) plate of food, smiling prettily. "Well, the movie we're going to see today will probably have a preview, we can decide after we see it," he said evenly. Papyrus nodded, taking a bite of pizza

“I’m going to go and get us both something to drink, wait here!” Papyrus said cheerfully, standing up and walking off towards one of the pizza places, smiling widely.

Sans took this as an opportunity to stand up, walking over to the table, flipping his hood down with a wide grin.

“Mettaton! Wow, didn’t expect to see you here! How’s it going?” he asked, grin widening as Mettaton jumped, eyes wide as he looked up at Sans. The surprise quickly faded into irritation as he took a Papyrus’s newly vacated seat.

“Oh. Hello, Sans,” he mumbled.

“So how’s the playdate going so far? Are you respecting my little brother?” he asked, grin unfading, his tone falling neatly into the ‘patronizing’ category. Anyone with ears could pick up the edge, the thinly veiled threat buried under his words.

Mettaton sighed, leaning his forehead on his hand. “Sans, you can’t keep trying to protect your brother from everyone. He can take care of himself, he’s not a little kid,” he said, exasperation creeping into his tone. Oh, yeah, play innocent, thought Sans, as if you weren't just walking with your hands all over my brother not ten minutes ago. He could act like he didn't do anything wrong all he wanted, but Sans was having exactly one metric NONE of it.

“My apologies for keeping my bro safe from jerks like you,” Sans said, smile beginning to fall flat. “Jerks like you who just walk away once he’s not entertaining to you anymore. Who don’t respect him as a real person. You don’t deserve someone as good as him, and I just wanted to make that crystal clear before you decide to break his heart. He's too good for you, and if you so much as breathe in his direction and he's not comfortable with it, trust me, you won't like what happens next." Sans forced his expression back into a calm, cool smile again. "Do you understand why I'm saying this to you?”

Mettaton paused, looking off, and Sans realized he was looking over at Papyrus (pretty easy to spot the dark swath of hair that towered over everyone else) with an expression like… sadness. “Because I don’t deserve him. You've got me there, I really don't,” he said finally, possibly the only response Sans hadn’t expected. “But still, I can try and live up to the standard, can’t I? Do my best to earn the affection he's giving me. I'm going to do my best to be the kind of person he deserves, one way or another. That's all anyone can really try to do.”

While Sans tried to pick up his jaw from the floor, Papyrus came walking over, holding drinks in either hand. He froze for a moment as he saw Sans, then smiled and dashed forward. “Sans! What are you doing here, brother?” he said, looking pleasantly surprised as he put the drinks down on the table and took a seat in the extra chair that was between his brother and his date.

“Nothing much. Just passing through here, I figured I need a new pair of shoes soon.” It was true, the soles of his sneakers looked ready to kick the bucket any day now, but he knew he would wait far past their expiration date to get new ones, like he always did.

“Me and Mettaton were just talking about the movie we're going to see!” he said cheerfully, and Sans was surprised beyond words as Papyrus had the initiative to take Mettaton’s hand in his own calmly, as if it was entirely natural. Mettaton seemed equally surprised by the gesture, cheeks tinged pink.

Until a few moments ago, the plan had been to tag along, hang out with the two and forcibly insert himself into their environment to start drawing the line a little more clearly, since Mettaton seemed to be inching closer and closer to “not alright with Sans” territory. But suddenly, when he looked over and saw Mettaton’s expression, a genuine interest and…happiness as he looked at Papyrus—he had an epiphany. He realized in that moment that maybe this is why Papyrus never seemed to hold himself back or be on guard around people. Sans did enough of that for the both of them, and for every time that it proved to be the right decision, how many times had he driven people from his brother because he didn’t want him getting hurt?

When he looked back at Papyrus, the taller of the two had had a knowing look in his eyes. His little brother seemed to be more perceptive than he gave him credit for. “Would you like to come with?” he asked calmly, evenly. And this is when he realized—Sans hadn’t been keeping an eye on Mettaton, Papyrus had been keeping an eye out on HIM. He was giving Sans the chance to come along if he wanted. If he still wanted to watch out for his brother. If he still didn't trust him yet to take care of himself.

Sans’s eyes fell to the table, shame welling up in his chest. He still didn’t like how touchy-feely Mettaton was. He still didn’t trust that Papyrus’s heart would stay intact this time around. He knew that if his brother got his heart broken, he might never forgive himself. But he knew that he had to trust Papyrus to do the right thing.

After all, he wasn’t a little kid anymore.

Sans cleared his throat gently, dislodging the lump in his throat. “Actually, I just wanted to come by and say hi to Mettaton, since I didn’t really have a chance earlier. A movie sounds like fun, but I’m not going to intrude, you two enjoy yourselves,” he said, standing up. “I’ll see you when you get home, Paps. Bye, Mettaton. Try not to stay out too late.” He pushed his hands into his pockets and strode away without further ado.

He did turn around before he left the food court, however. Old habits die hard, he thought. His eyes landed on Papyrus laughing, Mettaton smiling good-naturedly as he sipped from his drink. He watched as Papyrus leaned over and kissed Mettaton on the cheek. They looked…pretty happy together. Sans smiled too, turning and leaving his brother with his date.

Yeah. His brother could handle himself just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> [Overprotective Sans is my favorite Sans.  
> Thank you for reading, drop me a kudos if you liked it. I always love constructive criticism, so feel free to comment! Have a great day!]  
> [Edit: WOAH that's 1000 hits. That's incredible, thank all of you so much for taking the time to read my stuff I appreciate it so much!]


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